
Whether you’re a start-up or an established business venturing into new areas of product development, the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) is a crucial step in bringing an opportunity to market and avoiding the dreaded “Valley of Death.” An MVP is a simplified product that includes only the essential features needed to solve a core problem for early users. It allows businesses to quickly test ideas, validate demand, and gather feedback while minimising costs and risks.
At NIRI, we’ve partnered with start-ups and global companies alike, helping them bridge the gap between promising ideas and commercially successful products. Whether developing advanced fibres and nonwoven fabrics or next-generation products with enhanced performance, the principles of the MVP remain universal and essential. It’s a tool for mitigating risk, accelerating progress, and ensuring product development aligns with customer needs.
Why MVPs Matter in Advanced Materials and Products
For both start-ups and established companies, the stakes in developing innovative materials and products are particularly high. Technical complexity, cost pressures, and the need to meet strict performance, regulatory and environmental impact requirements often converge to create significant uncertainty and risk.
An MVP is more than just a prototype, it’s a strategic tool for validation and learning. It enables organisations to:
- Test Ideas Quickly: Understand how your material or product performs in real-world conditions, before committing to full-scale production.
- De-Risk Investments: Identify and address potential issues early, saving time and money.
- Validate Market Demand: Demonstrate that your concept addresses a genuine need and is commercially viable.
For start-ups, a well-conceived MVP can mean survival. For large companies, it can protect investments and reduce the time to market for new technologies.

Key Challenges: Start-Ups vs. Established Companies
Start-Ups: Bridging the “Valley of Death”
Start-ups often face a precarious phase where funding, resources, and time are critically limited. Common risks include:
- Overcommitting resources before validating market demand.
- Failing to define the economic value of the innovation.
- Struggling to prove the concept’s viability to investors.
Having a strong MVP offers start-ups the chance to test the validity of assumptions, refine ideas, and build a compelling case for further investment.
Established Companies: Scaling Innovation
For larger organisations, there can be challenges in integrating MVPs into existing development pipelines. The stakes are higher, and risks include:
- High costs associated with scaling unproven technologies.
- Misalignment between technical and market requirements.
- Navigating complex performance and regulatory standards.
For large companies, the MVP approach allows rapid iteration, while maintaining alignment with business goals and market expectations.
How to Make an MVP Work for You
Define Economic Value:
Whether you’re creating a new product, fibre, nonwoven or an advanced material, realistically quantifying the value your concept provides is crucial. Does it reduce cost, improve performance, or address specific unmet needs? A clear economic value proposition reassures stakeholders and guides development priorities.
Test Critical Assumptions:
- For start-ups: Focus on validating whether there’s a market for your product and whether it solves a meaningful problem for intended users.
- For established companies: Concentrate on technical feasibility and scalability while also assessing market readiness.
- Shadow Testing for Market Validation: Before committing to production, gauge demand using approaches such as pre-orders, pilot programmes, or small-scale deployments. Shadow testing can provide invaluable insights without significant upfront costs.
- Iterate and Refine: The MVP is not a one-and-done effort. Use feedback loops to refine your product, ensuring it meets both technical and market requirements.
Why Partner with NIRI?
At NIRI, we specialise in turning concepts into commercial realities. With decades of experience in advanced materials, fibres and nonwoven technologies, we provide end-to-end support for MVP development, from concept to prototype to testing.

Our services include:
- Prototyping: Rapidly create functional prototypes, from fibres to finished fabrics and products, that reflect the core value of your innovation.
- Testing and Validation: Evaluate your MVP’s performance under real-world conditions and ensure compliance with industry standards.
- Scalability Planning: Prepare your product for commercialisation by addressing manufacturing, cost, and market challenges.
Whether you’re a start-up tackling your first MVP or a global business developing next-generation materials, our expertise ensures you reduce risk, save time, and achieve your goals.
Let’s take your innovation to the next level
Contact NIRI today to explore how we can support your MVP journey and ensure your material, product, or technology succeeds in the marketplace.